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Watch Netflix or Hulu through A VPN without Getting Blocked

You badly want to watch your favorite TV series on Netflix or Hulu which are restricted in your country. Virtual private network (VPN) services are always the best way to go when it comes to bypassing geo-restrictions, but unfortunately, both entertainment companies have been cracking down VPN sites and unblocking DNS users who are trying to access their content which are otherwise geo-restricted.

Lucky for you, there is still a way around this dilemma that most Netflix and Hulu subscribers are experiencing. You don’t have to move to another country just to be able to enjoy the videos of your choice – you just have to have the perfect VPN service.

What Are Geo-Restricted Contents?

At some point in your life, you might have experienced trying to access a website to view a particular content, only to be stopped by a prompt saying that ‘this content is not available in your country.’ Websites like those are censoring their contents and geo-restricting it so that only the people whose IP addresses are located in the country where that website is based will be the ones who can access those.

One way of bypassing geo-restrictions and censorships is through a VPN service: it lets you choose a server located in a country that you want to appear in. For example, if your favorite show is not available for viewing in your country, you can choose a server located in the country where it is available. Since VPN services assign a different IP address to you, you will appear as if you are living in that country. Therefore, you can now access the content that you like.

Netflix and Hulu are not blind to such activities, and that is why they are upping their security by banning users with the same shared IP address who are trying to access their library. It is easier to track down users with the same IP address and block them all in just one go – problem solved. The user will obtain a new IP shared IP address, which Netflix or Hulu will block again, and this cycle will go on and on.

How Can I Watch Shows Without Getting Blocked?

To put it simply, the root of the problem is the shared IP address that Netflix and Hulu will constantly keep blocking. So to avoid getting blacklisted again and again, here are a few suggestions by How To Geek. The first one is to get a dedicated IP address.

A dedicated IP address is an IP address that is assigned to you and only you, so make sure that the VPN service you are subscribed to offers one. Usually, requesting for a dedicated IP costs a bit more than your usual monthly plan, but it is worth a try since you will not have to be assigned a shared IP address anymore.

Another tip by How To Geek suggest hosting your VPN at home so that you can watch Netflix as if you are also in a US home. You can set up your VPN to work in your router and connect your devices to it. Then you can watch shows as if you are in your home in the country of your preference. Your upload speeds would depend on your home internet connection, and it would give you access to another country’s library as if you were just sitting at home watching it, which is pretty sweet.

If you know your way around all things tech and don’t want to get a dedicated IP address, you can also install a web-hosting service in your home by yourself. After setting it up, you will have your own private VPN server hosted in a data center with more speeds, and you can even share it with other devices.

A Few Reminders

Let’s face it: unless you are actually paying for a real Netflix or Hulu subscription, there is no way you can watch videos in both websites for free. Using a VPN service will already cost you a monthly subscription bill, plus requesting for a dedicated IP address could also cost you a bit more. So you might want to crush any expectations that you are skimping the subscription costs by using a VPN – you’re not.

A dedicated IP address will not be the same as a shared IP too, since the latter lets you be able to switch servers multiple times, as many times as you like; the former will only let you use one server from one country, so choose your server wisely. This will affect the services that you will be able to avail in the future. You can consider the restrictions and the censorships when choosing which country that you want your IP address to appear in.

Getting around Netflix’s limited access to their library and their crackdown on VPN services will not be easy, but with a few life hacks, you will get through it – in complete anonymity, of course.

Reference:

How to Watch Netflix, Hulu, and More Through a VPN Without Being Blocked